Stories for February 13, 2013

SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A 6.9 percent increase in crime in San Diego last year, compared to 2011 is attributable to the downsizing of the San Diego Police Department, the state-mandated return of prison inmates to county jails, and an increasing transient population, police Chief William Lansdowne said Wednesday.

More than a thousand people attended the NRC meeting to bring the public up to date on its investigation of Edison’s plan to restart Unit 2 at San Onofre. Many of those in attendance were from San Diego.

DALLAS (AP) -- American Airlines and US Airways will merge and create the world's biggest airline. The boards of both companies approved the merger late Wednesday, according to four people close to the situation.

Low-income Californians without health insurance or who aren’t eligible for Medi-Cal can now see which benefits they can expect under the federal health care overhaul- and how much their coverage will cost.

In the 2010 model year, the most dependable cars and trucks were either new to the market or had been through a major redesign, according to a study by J.D. Power and Associates. The finding contradicts the traditional stance that consumers should let carmakers work out the bugs in a new model before they buy.

When there's a big snowstorm or a plane has mechanical problems, airports often turn into uncomfortable holding pens, with people scrunched in chairs, lying on floors, filling up restaurants and otherwise trying to find something to do.

As the nation watched anxiously to see how the manhunt in California for accused cop-killer Christopher Jordan Dorner would turn out, a harrowing situation at an Alabama middle school thankfully ended peacefully.

President Obama addressed the war in Afghanistan, immigration, the budget and gun control in his State of the Union speech Tuesday night. We hear from San Diego's Democratic and Republican parties for their take on his speech and how it affects San Diego.

Our investigative reporting colleagues at the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) continue their look at the Environmental Protection Agency's regulation of toxic pollution with a new report scrutinizing the agency's delay in announcing that "even a small amount of a chemical compound commonly found in tap water may cause cancer."

With the Carnival cruise ship Triumph and its 3,143 passengers now being towed to Mobile, Ala., more reports are emerging from passengers aboard the ship that lost engine power Sunday. They describe a tent city on the upper deck and continuing problems with the sewage system.

A return visit to Brighton College where many hundreds gathered to welcome Fiona Bruce and the team of experts recently. Amongst the objects brought to the cameras are a valuable cup and saucer bought at a boot sale, a portrait of a pig by a famous artist, and surprise treasures found in a safe once owned by Agatha Christie.

Fiona Bruce and the team head to Brighton where large crowds have unearthed their family treasures for valuation. Amongst the pieces under the experts' eyes are a Trafalgar medal awarded to a boy sailor who witnessed the epic battle in 1805 at the tender age of thirteen, one of the largest, rarest and most valuable pieces of Clarice Cliff pottery ever seen on the program, plus a small silver box gifted by President John F. Kennedy to a family shortly before his tragic death.

In an apparent reference to U.S. drone strikes, President Obama in his State of the Union speech defended the administration's continued use of "direct action" against terrorists and promised to work with Congress to ensure such targeting is lawful and transparent.

The transition into college is hard enough for most students. It's even harder for military veterans whose life experience differs greatly from their peers. New Mexico State University is starting a new housing model for them.

One of the world’s most impressive collections of science fiction is now in the hands of the San Diego State University library. It’s just part of the literary wealth of an SDSU graduate who’s begun to donate his collection to his alma mater. Edward Marsh is also a follower of the Church of Scientology. KPBS culture reporter Angela Carone visited his Escondido home to find out what else he collected.

As police scoured mountain peaks for days, using everything from bloodhounds to high-tech helicopters, the revenge-seeking ex-cop they wanted was hiding among them, holed up in a vacation cabin across the street from their command post.

As investigators work to determine whether the charred body inside a California mountain cabin is that of former Los Angeles police officer Christopher Jordan Dorner, dramatic reports are emerging about the last hours of the massive manhunt for the accused killer.

The top financial worry of Americans is that they won't have enough money when they retire, according to a recent Gallup poll. And the average age at which Americans expect to retire keeps rising -- from age 60 in the mid-1990s to age 67 now, the survey showed.

U.S. companies that have their networks routinely penetrated and their trade secrets stolen cannot be surprised by a new National Intelligence Estimate on the cyberespionage threat. The classified NIE, the first-ever focusing on cybersecurity, concludes that the U.S. is the target of a major espionage campaign, with China the leading culprit.

Increasingly, people are continuing to work past 65. Almost a third of Americans between the ages of 65 and 70 are working, and among those older than 75, about 7 percent are still on the job. In Working Late, a series for Morning Edition, NPR profiles older adults who are still in the workforce.